Competetive Edge
by Dreamweaver56
Summary: Naruto and Sasuke have always been very comptetitive against one another, but what happens when comptetition over reason and Naruto ends up hurt? Rated k  for mild language.


**Sorry I haven't updated in a REALLY long time, I've been really busy. Oh, and for all of you who want me to continue the other story I started (An Angels Eyes), please let me know because I'm not sure if I should continue that one or not. . . Okay! Here it is! Competitive Edge! Please enjoy and comment **

"Beat you to the Ramen Shop, Sasuke!" shouted Naruto, bumping (none-to-gently) into Sasuke's shoulder as he passed by his dark-haired teammate.

"Oh no you won't!" shouted Sasuke as he caught up to, and easily passed, Naruto. Both raced on, leaving their other teammate, Sakura, and Kakashi Sensei behind to catch up. Sakura sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Why do they have to be so competitive all the time?"

A little farther down the road, Kakashi and Sakura could make out the voices of the two boys coming from Ichiraku's Ramen Shop. They seemed to be arguing about who had beaten who to the stools or something. They weren't completely understandable.

"Simple." replied Kakashi, "They seem to have to think that one is better than the other and they want to prove that they are the best, but their little competitions don't do anything for them since they both have such big egos. Neither one will ever admit when the other has won so the games just keep going and going and going."

Sakura nodded, even though she had barely listened to anything he had said after, "Simple." When they approached the shop they spotted Naruto and Sasuke at the bar, already they were each on their third bowl of ramen. While Sakura was wondering how they had managed to eat all that ramen so fast, Kakashi spoke up.

"Guys, you might want to slow down a bit." said Kakashi, "Or you might regret it later."

The only response he got was the continuous slurping of noodles from both boys. Sighing, Kakashi gave up and sat down next to Naruto, ordering his own bowl of Ramen. Sakura sat beside him and did the same. After a single bowl of Ramen, Kakashi stood up from his stool and stretched. "Ahhhh," he said, "Good Eats."

Naruto gave thumbs up, "You said it!"

"Mmmmmhmm!" said Sakura joining the group. "What about you Sasuke?" she asked they boy who was the only one still sitting. "Wasn't your Ramen fantastic?"

Sasuke stood up clumsily from the stool, clutching at his stomach. "Yeah yeah, it was fine."

It was then that Kakashi noticed that the boy was considerably paler than when he had walked into the Shop. "Are you feeling alright Sasuke?" He asked the boy.

"Yeah," said Sakura, suddenly sounding worried, "You don't look so good."

Naruto saw the opportunity to embarrass Sasuke and decided to chime into the conversation. "What's the matter Sasuke? Can't stomach you food?"

A wicked smile spread across the boys face as he held up a fresh bowl of hot ramen under Sasuke's nose. Naruto couldn't help but smile even wider when Sasuke's eyes grew wide and his skin became even paler. He looked like he was about to say something, but instead, Sasuke quickly placed one hand over his mouth and ran out of the Shop. Naruto finally burst into laugher when he heard the sounds of Sasuke re-tasting his lunch.

"Naruto!" Sakura's deadly voice instantly silenced the blonde. Slowly, Naruto turned around to face a furious Sakura.

"What the HELL did you do that for!" she shouted, smacking the blonde boy upside the head. The force of her snack was so great it made Naruto drop the bowl of ramen. Shattered pieces of bowl and noodles lay all over the floor, but that was not Sakura's concern at the moment.

"Ow ow ow ow! What was that for!" shouted Naruto, "It serves him right for challenging me to an eating contest! No one can beat me at eating! Believe it!"

Sakura rolled her eyes for the second time that day. "Yeah, you're "Bottomless Pit" Uzumaki." she said sarcastically.

"You're just jealous." said Naruto walking out of the Shop. After thanking the chef (and apologizing for the broken bowl) Kakashi and Sakura followed Naruto out of the shop.

"Now what?" asked Sakura once they were all together in the street.

"Well," said Kakashi, "We were going to go to the training grounds, but I don't think that's such a great idea anymore."

"Why not?" asked Naruto

Kakashi just nodded his head back over in the direction of Ichiraku's Ramen Shop. When the two kids looked over, they saw a green-cheeked Sasuke leaning heavily against the wall with his eyes closed. When Naruto looked closer he noticed Sasuke was sweating and his breathing was rapid and uneven. Naruto felt a twinge of guilt for his friend. He hadn't meant for things to go that badly. A guilty look spread across Naruto's face, which didn't go unnoticed by his other team mate.

Sakura placed a hand on his shoulder. Sure the little guy normally drover her up the wall, but he was still her team mate, and a friend as well. And she didn't like to see her friends upset.

"Hey," she said, "Don't beat yourself up to bad. It was his fault too." This made Naruto feel a bit better. Naruto chuckled under his breath. "Thanks." he said. Sakura smiled.

"S-so what are we doing?" asked Sasuke, who had stumbled up behind Naruto. Now that he was closer to them, Kakashi and Sakura could see just how bad he was.

"We were going to train, but seeing as you can barely walk, I think we should just take the rest of the day off." said Kakashi.

"What? n-no I'm fine." said Sasuke, even though he knew he wasn't.

"Sasuke," said Sakura, coming to stand beside him, "You can hardly stand up, and you look like you're going to pass out."

"Seriously guys," protested Sasuke, "I'm fine, see?" Sasuke tried to take a step forward but a wave of dizziness swept over him and he felt his knees buckle. Naruto and Sakura quickly reacted. Each of them grabbed one of his arms, keeping him from falling to the ground. After a few minutes the dizziness stopped and Sasuke managed to regain his footing on his own.

"Alright, that's all I have to see," said Kakashi, "Come on, your going home."

This time, instead of protesting, Sasuke simply nodded and allowed himself to be lifted into Kakashi's arms. Unfortunately for him, the movement seemed to be too much for his stomach to handle. Another wave of dizziness swept over Sasuke and his stomach started doing flips inside of him again. He shut his eyes tightly, willing the nausea to go away. When it suddenly worsened, Sasuke clutched at his stomach and placed his hand back over his mouth, groaning piteously. Kakashi, recognizing this from earlier, quickly brought Sasuke over to the nearest trash can and set him down gently. When Sasuke lost his footing for a second, Kakashi took hold of his elbow to steady him. Almost apprehensively, his teammates came over to join them by the trash can.

Sasuke's eyes were squeezed shut and Kakashi could tell he was holding his breath. Sasuke hated getting sick. The smell, the taste, the sight, the feeling, it was all horrible.

And to make matters even worse, everyone was around him. The last thing he wanted to do was get sick in front of everyone. He didn't want to seem weak, but his perception changed slightly when the team began talking.

Kakashi was the first to speak. "Sasuke, if you have to get sick, then get sick. It's really not a big deal."

Sasuke shook his head and that's when Sakura piped in. "Yeah, there's nothing wrong with it, you just ate to much is all. Everyone gets sick sometimes. Things like this happen."

Still, Sasuke shook his head. Now it was Naruto's' turn. Sighing, Naruto placed a hand on Sasuke's' shoulder. He could feel how tense he was just from a simple touch. Naruto took a deep breath.

"Come on man," he said, "It's really isn't that big of a deal. Like Sakura said, everyone gets sick."

When Sasuke didn't relax, Naruto added, "Don't worry. I promise not to laugh. I know its a pain in the ass being sick and. . . I'm sorry for making you sick." Naruto scratched the back of his head. "I didn't know you would actually eat all of that ramen anyways." then his tone became a bit different. There was almost a caring air to it. "So it's alright, like I said before, no one will laugh, we're all here for you, that's why Sakura and I can over here. To help."

Sakura was slightly surprised by the words that came out of Naruto's mouth, but then again, she normally was. Then suddenly, without warning, Sasuke vomited into the trashcan. It startled the three of them, but, just as they promised, they were there to help. Kakashi continued to steady the sick boy with a good grip on his elbow. Sakura held Sasuke's bangs out of the way while Naruto kept a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. Naruto was leaning slightly against the trash can so he could get a look at Sasuke's face. Sweat ran down his brow and his eyes scrunched up in pain each time he became sick.

"Relax." cooed Sakura, "it's okay, just let it out."

"You doing fine." chimed in Naruto. "You'll be fine."

Kakashi simply gave his elbow and encouraging squeeze as another wave of sickness rushed on Sasuke. Sasuke leaned over the trash can more, trying to use it to support his weight. By the time he was finished, Sasuke's' legs were visibly shaking and he was breathing heavily. Sasuke lowered his head and took a few deep breaths. He really wanted to sit down, and he was thankful when Sakura helped him to his knees.

"There," she said, rubbing he back, "Feel better?"

Sasuke nodded, he actually did feel a bit better, but he still wanted to go home.

"Ready?" asked Kakashi. Sasuke raised his head and gave another nod. Kakashi knelt down beside him and allowed Sasuke to put his arms around his neck. Slowly, as not to upset Sasuke's stomach again, Kakashi stood up, with Sasuke on his back.

"You two can go ahead and take the day to rest," Kakashi told Sakura and Naruto. "And don't worry," he added when he saw the looks on their faces, "Sasuke will be fine, he just needs to rest. Just be sure to meet on the bridge around eight tomorrow for training."

The two kids nodded and were about to walk away when Sasuke spoke.

"H-hey guys," he said, his voice sounded so small. Naruto and Sakura looked over at Sasuke. His eyes were half closed, but there was an obvious smile on face.

". . . Thanks."

Sakura smiled, and for some reason. . . Sasuke's heart skipped a beat. "You're welcome, Sasuke."

Naruto nodded, "No problem, that's what friends are for." suddenly, a dangerous light sparked in Naruto's eyes. "But make sure your better tomorrow, our contests aren't over yet!"

Sakura and Kakashi both rolled their eyes, but Sasuke just laughed.

"O-okay."

Then next morning, Naruto woke up and decided to go down to the bridge a bit early. When he arrived, he saw Sasuke leaning against the railing of the bridge.

"Hey Sasuke!" shouted Naruto, Sasuke looked over and sighed. "Feeling' better?"

Sasuke just nodded and turned back to look out at the water. Naruto raised an eyebrow. _Oh, so now that your feeling better were back to one sided conversations? Well fine then. _

Naruto sighed, he had been hoping that if he came early, he would have some time with Sakura, but instead, he got stuck with Sasuke. Suddenly, Naruto had and idea. Another contest! it was perfect, Sakura wasn't coming for another hour and who knew what Kakashi would be there. Quickly Naruto scanned the premises for a good "contesty" thing that he could win. And then he spotted the gate to the Leaf Village and a light bulb went of in his head.

"Hey Sasuke!" shouted Naruto suddenly, making Sasuke jump.

"What do you want?"

"I bet I can get to the lake before you."

"The one outside of the village?"

". . . well duh.. That's the only lake around here."

"Actually there's -"

"Whatever! But that's the one I was talking about."

"Why, we already know who would win."

"Not true! And now's the perfect time, no ones here so we could go race and be back before anyone else got here."

"Fine."

Naruto smiled evilly and took off toward the gate, Sasuke walking behind him.

"Okay," said Naruto, "First one to the lake wins."

Sasuke nodded.

"Ready. Set. Go!"

In an instant, they both took off. Naruto remained in the lead for some time, all that running away from teachers when he was little had really paid off, but as he kept going he began to feel tired. _Dammit, _He thought, _I cant let him beat me, he already won the last race!_

So, suddenly, hatching an idea, Naruto leapt into the trees and began leaping from branch to branch. It took him a minute, but he finally caught up to Sasuke. Naruto grew more confident and began to move faster through the trees. Unfortunately, his focus was not as great as he began to get excited and he wasn't watching where he was going.

_"_Ha-ha Sasuke!" he shouted below him, "I caught up, don't count me out yet! You won't be able to-waaaahhhh!"

Naruto's foot slipped on one of the branches and he fell towards the ground. He desperately reached out for another branch or something to grab onto. His fingers brushed another branch, but he didn't have time to grab onto it. Naruto continued to fall.

Just barely farther ahead, Sasuke had stopped, hearing Naruto's' shouts as he had so clumsily slipped from the branch. It had been a few second and he was thinking about going ahead, that Naruto had just tricked him, when he suddenly heard the sound of something hit the ground with a sickening crack. A second later Naruto screamed.

Sasuke panicked. _Naruto's' tricking me. _He thought. _He probably just jumped from a tree and broke a stick for the sound. Then just simply screamed so I would come back and he could go ahead. _

Suddenly, he heard Naruto scream again, this time it sounded as if he was in great pain.Sasuke knew that Naruto could see him, unfortunately he couldn't see Naruto.

"Sasuke!" he screamed. "Sasuke, help! I can't m-move!"

Sasuke still wasn't sure if he was faking it or not. But for some reason, Naruto's' screams kept him rooted to the spot where he stood. Until he heard him scream again.

"Sasuke! S-Sasuke help me! P-PLEASE!"

And with that, Sasuke took of in the direction of Naruto's' screams. Trampling dead leaves and leaping over roots. Adrenaline coursed through Sasuke's veins and panic clouded his mind. One of his friends was hurt and he had no idea what happened or what was wrong.

"Hang on!" shouted Sasuke as Naruto screamed again. Sasuke tore through the brush, desperately trying to remain clam. He heard Naruto scream again and this time, he felt his heart skip a beat. Just as Sasuke leapt over another root, he heard Naruto call out. He sounded extremely distressed.

"Sasuke! Sasuke where are you going!"

Sasuke stopped and looked back over the root he had just jumped over. All the color drained from his face when he saw Naruto. He was leaning against the large root he had just leapt over and he was clutching at his left shin, which was obviously broken badly. Bruises and cuts covered his body and tearstained face, and blood trickled from a large wound beside his right eye.

"Naruto!"

Sasuke charged to his friends' side. A closer examination of the wound near his eye proved it t be much worse that Sasuke had originally thought. The scratch ran all the way from the base of his eye to his light blonde hairline.

"Where's your headband?" Sasuke asked Naruto. Naruto looked up at him with big blue wet eyes. He looked extremely distraught.

"I-I don't know. . . It m-must have f-fallen off when I f-fell."

Sasuke nodded and moved to examine Naruto's leg. He didn't have to do much to confirm it was broken. The second Sasuke's fingertips touched Naruto's leg, Naruto yelped loudly and tried to move his leg away, but that only caused more pain. Naruto clenched his teeth as the tear-jerking pain shot up and down his leg like an electric shot.

"Don't move, Naruto." Said Sasuke. Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and didn't say anything. Sasuke knew what he had to do, treating a broken leg was easy. He just had no idea how to get him back to the village. Suddenly, Sasuke had an idea.

"Naruto, can you use your summoning jutsu?"

Naruto, slightly confused on why he would ask that, just nodded and, without asking questions, formed the hand signed for the summoning jutsu. Suddenly a little red frog appeared right in front of them. It blinked a few times, as if it was disoriented, and then looked up at Sasuke and Naruto. A surprised look passed over the small frogs face.

"Whoa." He said, "What happened to him?"

"He's hurt badly." Said Sasuke, a twinge of fear entering his voice.

The small frog crossed his arms. "Yeah. I can see that. But why'd I come here."

"I need you too go back to the village and get someone to come and get Naruto. There's no way he can walk in this condition."

"What's in it for me?" said the little frog.

"Please. Just go get help." The frog was a little caught off guard by the boys face and voice. He looked like he was on the verge of crying and his voice was pleading and for some reason, the frog started to become worried.

The frog sighed. "Alright, ill be back." And with that, the small frog disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Sasuke sighed, slightly relieved that Naruto was going to get help. He looked back down at the small boys' leg. He needed a stick. A big stick. As he looked around he spotted a small branch that looked thick enough right beside him.

_Well that was convenient. _Thought Sasuke as he picked up the stick and placed it by Naruto's leg. Quickly, Sasuke ripped two long strips of cloth from the bottom of his shirt, this way he had something to hold the stick against his leg.

"Okay Naruto, this may hurt a but okay?"

Naruto nodded and braced for the pain again. Sasuke tried to tie the stick as delicately as he could to Naruto's leg, he didn't want to cause his friend even more pain. Eventually, Sasuke got both pieces of cloth tied around Naruto's leg and it was braced nicely against the large stick.

Sasuke sat back on his heals and sighed out of relief. "Well, it's not too great, but it should keep your leg stead until help comes and they can get you to the hospital."

"O-okay."

Sasuke sat down criss cross and placed his head in his hands. He was exhausted already and they hadn't even gone on their mission yet! This was going to be a long day.

"Hey Sasuke." Naruto's' small voice broke Sasuke's train of though.

"T-thanks."

Sasuke nodded. "Hey, isn't that what friends are there for?"

Naruto just laughed. Sasuke seemed different, but it wasn't a bad different. The then he noticed it. Sasuke was smiling, not smirking, smiling. And laughing!

"What's so funny?"

Sasuke shook his head. "What? Oh, I just can't believe that I just quote you. You of all people."

Naruto raised an eyebrow but chuckled anyways. The two boys were so busy laughing that they didn't even notice Kakashi speeding through the trees above them. . . apparently looking for them.. . Oops.


End file.
